LELAND, NC (WWAY) — Leland traffic is making headlines once again.Unannounced maintenance work led to a big build up of traffic last night.The DOT tells us what they were doing and why it happened.

Traffic was so slow, some folks were apparently checking Facebook.Rob Dylan Milteer posted a picture with the caption “4.1 miles from 3rd street. Been 2 hours for 2 miles of movement. it’s rough out here tonight.”

Another man stuck in the traffic named William O’Johnson says “When i went through there they were painting over the white lines,” O’Johnson said. “No other work just painting over the white line.”

Why did the DOT shut down all but one lane of traffic? Well, O’ Johnson was sort of right.

DOT construction engineer Jackson Provost says starting work several hours earlier than scheduled on Sunday was a last minute decision.

“We were striping out some solid lines that we had talked about with the public,” Provost said. “The thought process was that on Sunday, the traffic wouldn’t be that bad and we wouldn’t back traffic up.”

But that is not what happened. The line of cars stretched for miles.

“I’m sorry for that, that was definitely not our intent,” Provost said.

He also tells us they would have gotten this done last week if it hadn’t been for the rain. He says the deeply apologize for the inconvienience it caused everyone involved. The repainting of the lines was something he says needed to be done, for the safety of drivers and workers.The DOT says they’re going to do everything they can to prevent this from happening again.